Food and Nutrition Assistance Research Database

The RIDGE Program summarizes research findings of projects that were awarded 1-year grants through its partner institutions. All projects were conducted under research grants from ERS, and the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of ERS or USDA. For more information about publications or other project outputs for a specific RIDGE study, contact the investigator or research center that awarded the grant. For a customized list of RIDGE projects and summaries, search by keyword(s), project, research center, investigator, or year:

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of
1996 (PRWORA), known as welfare reform, and its subsequent amendments
eliminated welfare as an entitlement for working-age adults and
noncitizens while maintaining limited support for poor children regardless
of citizenship. This policy changed the treatment of mixed-eligibility-status
immigrant households, i.e., households containing both those deemed ineligible
for welfare (noncitizens) and those deemed eligible (poor children).
Rather than providing full welfare benefits, welfare policy reduces or eliminates
welfare benefits for mixed-status households relative to nonimmigrant
households whose every member can be eligible. The effects of this new
policy depend, in part, on the extent to which a reduction in allotments to
mixed-status households has a negative impact on children. This study also
examines the effect of cutbacks on welfare allotments on ""mixed status""
families and whether these changes in Food Stamp Program (FSP) participation
and benefits led to higher levels of food insecurity among children of
noncitizens.

Prior research has shown that the FSP serves as an important source of food
for immigrant families. This study added to earlier work by using a longitudinal
data source, the Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD), to follow a
cohort of children through multiple years. This study used a national-level
sample and controlled for State-level fixed effects in multivariate models of
food stamp receipt and food insecurity. The authors used measures of
""unmet need"" for food stamps, based on the extent to which an individual
child's predicted participation levels changed since the enactment of welfare
reform.

Five specific findings emerged from the analysis. First, household-level
food stamp receipt declined steadily between 1993 and 2000 among all
nativity/citizenship groups independent of changes and variation in social,
demographic, and economic characteristics. In contrast, the decline in food
stamp benefits was temporary among children of noncitizens. Second, food
insecurity was higher for these children of noncitizens who did not naturalize
immediately following welfare reform, but food insecurity levels
declined and became more equal across all nativity/citizenship groups by
2001. Third, reductions in FSP benefits rather than reductions in household-
level food stamp participation appear to explain the higher food insecurity
levels of children of parents who never naturalized. Fourth,
reductions in unmet need for both receipt and allotments between 1997 and
2000 appear to explain, in part, the decline in food insecurity for all
nativity/citizenship groups. Fifth, the results suggest that children of noncitizens
would have lower levels of food insecurity if they were given access
to food stamps and allotments equal to those given to children of natives.

The study results suggest that providing food assistance to needy children
alone is probably not enough to reduce food insecurity among eligible
immigrant children. Food insecurity among the children in the SPD
increased due to reductions in FSP participation by mixed-status households
despite the fact that most of the children remained eligible. Another policy
change could be to provide food assistance to all members of needy households
that contain children rather than only to household members who are
eligible children.